Flower of the month – Ranunculus

I know that it’s still in the cold clutches of winter for a lot of you out there, and I don’t mean to rub it in, but it’s been in the high 80’s here all week. My poor cold-climate conditioned body has no idea what to do! However, it does mean that flowers bloom early

here and it’s time for me to start thinking about flowers. Well, not really, because I don’t have a garden, but a girl can dream, right?

My gardens usually consist of some pots outside on the patio, and the other day I stopped by the nursery to see what I could find that would do well in a container. I found a see of ranunculus! They are one of my favorite flowers, and I had no idea that they would be so easy to find. I bought one plant as a test, and it has shot up 10 buds in the last week! Which is amazing.

Please excuse the terrible picture, but this is a bouquet I made for a friend’s wedding last fall. She had chosen white spider mums, orange tulips, yellow snapdragons, red-orange alstromeria and white roses for the rest of the bouquets and arrangements, but also picked a bunch of orange ranunculus for herself and the groom’s flowers. They were a delight to work with, with their huge heads of petals and bright color (and they have a cool striped stem as well). I can’t get over them – I’m going to go and buy a bunch more plants at the store today so I’ll have lovely cut flowers all year.

Here’s some pictures of ranunculus to get you inspired!

If anyone happens to live in Brooklyn, I highly suggest visiting the incredibly talented Sarah at Saipua. She always has tremendous, unusual and beautiful floral designs. (that’s one of hers above)